Salt of the Earth
by Kassidy62
Summary: Garraty/McVries, set sometime after Pete asked THAT question. You know.  The one where he asks if he can help Ray out. So to speak.


**Salt of the Earth**

based on THE LONG WALK by Stephen King

Kassidy

The girl standing by the road wore short shorts and a pale blue bikini top that stood out against her tan. Her pretty face gleamed with sweat. She saw him coming from down the road and jumped up and down in slow motion, holding her sign overhead (GO GARRATY! MAINE'S OWN). Her hair flipped up and down behind her, shining in the sun, and her breasts—

"What have we here?" It was McVries.

Garraty jolted out of a light sleep, heart jumping queasily into his throat. His eyes flew open.

"To think I almost said _what's up. _Obviously a no-brainer." McVries looked up and winked at Garraty. "It's the lack of opportunity that gets you. We're on the wrong end of a spectator sport." He shrugged. "Still, I say go for it. People might point and laugh, but screw that, you'd still get off. What's a little come in your shorts after you've had to take a dump in public, right?"

Garraty blinked at him. "I think you'd rather play with my mind than your dick, wouldn't you?"

McVries grinned. "Pithy." His black hair blew back in a gust of wind.

"You're the one who's been saying you're hornier than you've ever been, so—" Garraty started, then shook his head, irritated. "Forget it. Go pick on somebody else. I just woke up."

"That's the perfect time to talk about jerking off. Morning wood, so to speak."

"There's got to be something I can say that'll cut you off at the pass." Garraty paused, uncertain. "Isn't there?"

McVries looked amused. "I can't help myself. You inspire me."

Garraty rolled his shoulder and made it pop. Then he did the other. "That's what all the girls say."

"Are you implying I'm a girl?" McVries looked thoughtful. "So that's why I've developed this tendency concerning your—"

"Cut it out." Garraty's voice rose, sharper than he'd meant.

"Dear, dear Ray, am I making you uncomfortable? Why is that?"

"_Why?_ For some unknown reason you've decided to come after me on this. It isn't funny."

McVries looked scornful. "_This_, is it? Can't you even say it? What's a little jerk-off between friends?"

Garraty stared at him. His shoulders slumped. He suddenly felt very tired. "I'm asking you, okay. Just stop."

McVries looked down the road. "Stopping, now that's a problem. Always has been. I see the sign, but then I speed up and go straight on through the intersection. Like with Pris. I knew it was over but did I stop?" He touched the scar on his face. "Got the souvenir to show for it."

Garraty sighed. Suddenly he wanted more than anything in the world to just sit down. He rubbed his eyes. "You're right, you don't know when to quit. Stop beating yourself up. You were in love."

"The love that lasts the longest is the love that is never returned, or some such sappy shit." McVries nodded. He looked at Garraty. "So who were you dreaming of?" His voice was soft.

Ray shook his head a little, not answering.

"So it wasn't Jan." McVries shrugged and put a hand on Garraty's shoulder. "Turns out your dreams aren't on board with making yourself a monk for everyone but her. Imagine that." Pete's eyes lit up. "It was me, wasn't it?"

Garraty laughed. "I give up. Fuck yeah, it was you. You happy now?"

"Since I don't have a girl waiting for me in Freeport it's good to know I'm in someone's dreams, anyway." McVries smiled and clapped Garraty's shoulder. Then his eyes narrowed. "Actually, it's incredibly depressing."

"Oh yeah?" Garraty looked insulted.

"If you're my Jan, then you're who I'm walking for. But at least one of us is going to die. There's no happy ending, see what I mean?"

Garraty shuddered. "You talk too much. And did you just call me a girl?"

McVries grinned. "And round and round we go."

Garraty closed his eyes, feeling the warmth of Pete's hand through his shirt. "I'll carry you on my shoulders. They won't shoot you because you'll be going the same speed as me."

McVries laughed. "We'll walk off into the sunset together. Excuse me, drive. Fly. Anything but walk." He squeezed Garraty's shoulder. "If that was a proposal, Ray, the answer's yes."

Garraty opened his eyes. "You're truly, truly strange."

"Wise men know this to be true." McVries nodded agreeably. He leaned close, arm around Garraty's back. People roadside laughed and cat-called. McVries spoke in his ear. "It's a character flaw. But I have other things up my sleeve right now."

"I can hardly wait." Garraty watched the soldiers alongside. There was nothing on their faces. It was safer.

_The soldiers, safe. Sure._

"There you go with that rapier wit of yours. I think back and realize that before I knew you I wasn't really living. I was merely surviving."

Garraty sighed. "Shut up."

McVries looked hurt. "I was serious. Let's pretend, Ray."

"Should I close my eyes again?"

"You should."

Garraty obeyed, feeling something in his stomach tremble. He felt McVries' warmth all along his side. He heard someone giggle, high-pitched.

"I don't know—"

"You do. Don't listen to them. A bad job, bad decisions and a girl whose love I could not win led me to this very moment with you, Ray. It would be a terrible shame to squander it." McVries' voice was low, melodic. "Within the sorry confines of another Long Walk where everyone involved has yet again been had, my mission in life has come down to this: do you want to be touched, Ray? Will you let me? Answer the question, and don't open your eyes."

"I told you once. Whatever you want." Garraty's voice wobbled, but he didn't open his eyes.

"Not good enough, not now," McVries said. His breath was warm against Garraty's ear, his arm heavy over Garraty's shoulder.

A boy at the side of the road laughed. "Look at the fags!"

Garraty wanted to stop walking. He wanted to be clean again, to be comfortable, to eat anything he wanted and go to the bathroom in private instead of in front of a crowd's prying eyes. He wanted to be anywhere but here, out in the open, exposed. Caught.

"You want me to say it but I won't. She said she'd make me take off my clothes—that I'd have to walk down the street naked—I didn't—" Garraty's chest hitched.

"Christ! Ray, what—open your eyes." McVries let him go. "I'm sorry, okay? Fuck."

McVries' eyes went dark, his skin pale, dismay written all over him. Somehow it grounded Garraty. He grabbed Pete's arm. "It's okay. You're just doing what you always do, forgetting to stop." Something warm and anticipatory shivered in his chest. He wanted to look away but he didn't. "You think we're all here to die. I don't want to die alone."

McVries gave him that hard, slanting grin he hated. "Everybody dies alone."

"Not yet. Okay? Not yet."

McVries blinked at him. "Keep walking, Ray." His hip brushed against Garraty as they walked. The sky began to drizzle rain. "I bet she wouldn't want you to be alone out here, would she? Your Jan. And you, you still just want to live. Fucking's really what that's all about, isn't it? Procreating, making another like yourself before it's too late." He leaned closer. "Want me to help you salt the earth?"

"I want you to—to—"

"Don't worry, you don't have to say it. Maybe something will come of it, a golem come to life from Earth and seed, what do you think?""

"I think you're ridiculous."

"Should I beg you like I did Pris, would it make a difference? Don't look at them. Nobody matters but me. Put your hand down your pants. I want to see."

Garraty found something within, beyond the past, beyond everything. He let it out. "You don't need to beg. And I don't want my hand, I want yours."

McVries stared at him. "You want me to be Jan for you? I can talk for her if you want, Ray. I have no shame."

"No. You. I can't control who I think about in my dreams, remember?"

McVries' breath caught in his chest. "That's right. Close your eyes again, Ray. Don't listen to them. Listen to me. My hand's on your dick. You feel it? Feel me jacking you?"

"_God_."

"Fuck into my hand, Ray. If I could I'd be on my knees to you. You're my mission in life, now, remember. I want you to come for me. Feel it, you're so good in my hand, hurry, c'mon, so hard—I want—"

"Damn, Pete, fuck—" Garraty choked. His pants flooded warm and wet. He nearly blacked out, his legs wobbling like a day old colt's.

When he could, he opened his eyes and looked at McVries. Pete was stubbled and dirty and his eyes were red, his scar shining in the rain, and none of that mattered. "So this is how you think you'll win? By killing me?" Garraty said.

Pete threw his head back and laughed. "Try to give a guy a good time and what do I get? Anyway, I thought you were taking me away from all this."

Garraty nodded and tried to smile. "Believe it."

"Good."

Garraty staggered.

"Hey! Careful with my ride." Pete reached out a hand. "I've got you, Ray."

"No worries. Though I'm a little concerned about Hint 13 and conserving energy whenever possible. I think I blew that all to hell."

"So to speak," McVries said wryly, but Garraty heard the smile in his voice.

Notes:

Just in case, an explanation: the part where Garraty tells McVries, "You want me to say it but I won't" references the original story where Ray played doctor with another boy when they were five. They were caught and Ray's mother threatened to make him go naked for everyone to see.


End file.
